November 26, 2003

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 — U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday the United States had gathered compelling evidence that an Arab news channel whose Baghdad offices were closed down was cooperating with insurgents.

Rumsfeld also said the station, Dubai-based Al Arabiya, and its competitor news channel Al Jazeera, had been summoned in advance by guerrillas to witness some of a growing number of attacks by those opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.